Haney said formidably: "I"m not dodgin" any fight. I didn"t dodge it then. I"m not dodgin" it now. You picked it. It was crazy! But if you got over the craziness----"
Braun smiled a remarkably peculiar smile. "I"m still crazy. We finish, huh?"
Haney pushed back his chair and stood up grimly. "Okay, we finish it!
You coulda killed me. I coulda killed you too, with that fall ready for either of us."
"Sure! Too bad n.o.body got killed," said Braun.
"You fellas wait," said Haney angrily to Joe and the rest. "There"s a storeroom out back. Sid"ll let us use it."
But the Chief pushed back his chair.
"Uh-uh," he said, shaking his head. "We"re watchin" this."
Haney spoke with elaborate courtesy: "You mind, Braun? Want to get some friends of yours, too?"
"I got no friends," said Braun. "Let"s go."
The Chief went authoritatively to the owner of Sid"s Steak Joint. He paid the bill, talking. The owner of the place negligently jerked his thumb toward the rear. This was not an unparalleled request--for the use of a storeroom so that two men could batter each other undisturbed.
Bootstrap was a law-abiding town, because to get fired from work on the Platform was to lose a place in the most important job in history. So it was inevitable that the settlement of quarrels in private should become commonplace.
The Chief leading, they filed through the kitchen and out of doors. The storeroom lay beyond. The Chief went in and switched on the light. He looked about and was satisfied. It was almost empty, save for stacked cartons in one corner. Braun was already taking off his coat.
"You want rounds and stuff?" demanded the Chief.
"I want fight," said Braun thickly.
"Okay, then," snapped the Chief. "No kickin" or gougin". A man"s down, he has a chance to get up. That"s all the rules. Right?"
Haney, stripping off his coat in turn, grunted an a.s.sent. He handed his coat to Joe. He faced his antagonist.
It was a curious atmosphere for a fight. There were merely the plank walls of the storeroom with a single dangling light in the middle and an unswept floor beneath. The Chief stood in the doorway, scowling. This didn"t feel right. There was not enough hatred in evidence to justify it. There was doggedness and resolution enough, but Braun was deathly white and if his face was contorted--and it was--it was not with the l.u.s.t to batter and injure and maim. It was something else.
The two men faced each other. And then the stocky, swarthy Braun swung at Haney. The blow had sting in it but nothing more. It almost looked as if Braun were trying to work himself up to the fight he"d insisted on finishing. Haney countered with a roundhouse blow that glanced off Braun"s cheek. And then they bore in at each other, slugging without science or skill.
Joe watched. Braun launched a blow that hurt, but Haney sent him reeling back. He came in doggedly again, and swung and swung, but he had no idea of boxing. His only idea was to slug. He did slug. Haney had been peevish rather than angry. Now he began to glower. He began to take the fight to Braun.
He knocked Braun down. Braun staggered up and rushed. A wildly flailing fist landed on Haney"s ear. He doubled Braun up with a wallop to the midsection. Braun came back, fists swinging.
Haney closed one eye for him. He came back. Haney shook him from head to foot with a chest blow. He came back. Haney split his lip and loosened a tooth. He came back.
The Chief said sourly: "This ain"t a fight. Quit it, Haney! He don"t know how!"
Haney tried to draw away, but Braun swarmed on him, striking fiercely until Haney had to floor him again. He dragged himself up and rushed at Haney--and was knocked down again. Haney stood over him, panting furiously.
"Quit it, y"fool! What"s the matter with you?"
Braun started to get up again. The Chief interfered and held him, while Haney glared.
"He ain"t going to fight any more, Braun," p.r.o.nounced the Chief firmly.
"You ain"t got a chance. This fight"s over. You had enough."
Braun was b.l.o.o.d.y and horribly battered, but he panted: "He"s got enough?"
"Are you out o" your head?" demanded the Chief. "He ain"t got a mark on him!"
"I ain"t--got enough," panted Braun, "till he"s got--enough!"
His breath was coming in soblike gasps, the result of body blows. It hadn"t been a fight but a beating, administered by Haney. But Braun struggled to get up.
Mike the midget said brittlely: "You got enough, Haney. You"re satisfied. Tell him so."
"Sure I"m satisfied," snorted Haney. "I don"t want to hit him any more.
I got enough of that!"
Braun panted: "Okay! Okay!"
The Chief let him get to his feet. He went groggily to his coat. He tried to put himself into it. Mike caught Joe"s eye and nodded meaningfully. Joe helped Braun into the coat. There was silence, save for Braun"s heavy, labored breathing.
He moved unsteadily toward the door. Then he stopped.
"Haney," he said effortfully, "I don"t say I"m sorry for fighting you today. I fight first. But now I say I am sorry. You are good guy, Haney.
I was crazy. I--got reason."
He stumbled out of the door and was gone. The four who were left behind stared at each other.
"What"s the matter with him?" demanded Haney blankly.
"He"s nuts," said the Chief. "If he was gonna apologize----"
Mike shook his head.
"He wouldn"t apologize," he said brittlely, "because he thought you might think he was scared. But when he"d proved he wasn"t scared of a beating--then he could say he was sorry." He paused. "I"ve seen guys I liked a lot less than him."
Haney put on his coat, frowning.
"I don"t get it," he rumbled. "Next time I see him----"
"You won"t," snapped Mike. "None of us will. I"ll bet on it."
But he was wrong. The others went out of the storeroom and back into Sid"s Steak Joint, and the Chief politely thanked the proprietor for the loan of his storeroom for a private fight. Then they went out into the neon-lighted business street of Bootstrap.
"What do we do now?" asked Joe.
"Where you sleeping?" asked the Chief hospitably. "I can get you a room at my place."
"I"m staying out at the Shed," Joe told him awkwardly. "My family"s known Major Holt a long time. I"m staying at his house behind the Shed."
Haney raised his eyebrows but said nothing.